Hidden in Plain Sight
by Forestfirekid
Summary: At the age of two, Ash is kidnapped and rescued shortly after. Now at the ten and starting her Pokémon journey, she needs one year of field experience before she becomes a certified Pokémon Professor. All the while dressed as a boy, avoiding her kidnappers. (Will cover all of the Anime Seasons. Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or any of it's characters.)


_** Hello everyone. This is my first Fanfic for Pokémon and I hope that you all enjoy it. Please read anything I write at the start of a fic along with what I write at the bottom because it may be important.**_

_** Now onto the story.**_

"Mommy, why do we have to go to the Oak's. I like the Professor and all, but his grandson's a bully. Plus I could be reading a book right now and getting ready for the test."

Delia Ketchum sighed as she listened to her five year old niece complain about the fact that they were going over to Professor Oak's Lab. The girl was rather mature for a five year old, preferring to read and study over goofing off like others her age, but the fact that the girl had had no issues over calling her 'Mommy' when she wasn't her real mother when the child's father and her (Delia's) own brother had asked her to take care of the girl three years ago still bothered her. The fact that the girl would refer to her father by his first name also showed how the girl still thought that the man had abandoned her or that he hated her and blamed her for the death of her mother. In reality, Delia's brother had told her to look after his daughter since he thought that she would be better protected with her in Pallet than back in their home town in Johto. This hadn't stopped Delia from getting the girl to dress as a boy so that she wouldn't be found by those who had murdered the girl's mother and kidnapped the young child for their own uses.

Their weren't many children in Pallet, considering that the population was somewhere around or less than 5250, so there weren't that many people for the girl to play with anyway. When the children came to the age of ten, they left on their Pokémon journeys and they would travel for years. Only a few of them would come back and settle down in Pallet.

"What test, Ash," she asked, the last statement that her niece had made finally having been processed.

"The test to become a Pokémon Professor."

The fact that the young raven haired girl had stated this so matter-of-factually, as though it was a normal occurrence for a five year old to take the tests, made her look down at her niece slightly startled but also amused. Trust her brother to have a child genius for a daughter.

"Are you sure you don't want to wait a couple years before you take the test," she asked.

The girl nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course I'm sure. If I take the test now, then I don't have to worry about taking it later. I can also spend the time left before my journey designing my Pokédex and reading books. Even if I don't use my own design for my journey, at least I can make sure that I am prepared for it."

Delia couldn't help but be proud of the girl that she had started to view as her own daughter. Maybe it was time to let someone else into the fold.

" Hey dear, how would you like it if I asked the Professor if you could help him out around the lab. This way you can learn more about Pokémon and spend time around them before your journey."

Ash looked overjoyed at this, but several moments later she looked a little downcast.

"But he doesn't know that I'm a girl, mommy."

"Don't worry, we'll just tell him," she told the girl reassuringly." The Professor's trustworthy, if we tell him to keep the fact that you are a girl a secret, he will."

"Does this mean that I won't have to spend time with Gary," she asked hopefully.

Delia laughed.

"Ash, Gary is Samuel's grandson. He is bound to spend time with his grandfather, especially since he wants to be a trainer too."

The look on Ash's face at that statement just made Delia laugh harder.

– **Timeskip – **

Ash was packing her bag while the TV in her room played the live broadcast of the battle between two of the members of Kanto's Elite Four. She had just finished sending e-mails to her two penpals, both of whom were from Johto. She had met them when she was seven and had gone with Professor Oak to visit Professor Elm. Though Professor Oak had been let into the fold and told that Ash was in reality a girl and Delia's niece, he hadn't been told who her father was so all he knew was that Delia had a brother who didn't live in Kanto. Even though he had known Delia since she had moved to Pallet when she had stopped her journey and settled down at the age of fifteen, she hadn't been very forthcoming with information about her family and had changed her last name, so it was assumed by most of Pallet town that she had had a falling out with them which had caused her to settle down in Pallet rather than the town or city that she had been born in. So it had come to a great shock to him when Professor Elm had seemed to be surprised to see Ash and had recognized her, though the other Professor had been careful not to give any information away.

At the time of the visit, a new trainer had been starting out, and had come in while the two Professor's were having a heated discussion about something. Ash had been looking from one to the other like she would if she were watching a tennis match and had been rather grateful when the new trainer had come inside and had distracted her. The two of them had spent the next two hours talking and getting to know one another. He had noticed that she was a girl and had asked why she was dressed up as a boy and she hadn't seen anything that told her that she shouldn't tell him the truth so she did. He in turn had promised not to tell anyone and the two had moved on to more cheerful topics. When he had been leaving after having received his starter and an apology for having had to wait he had promised to keep in touch with her and had asked for her e-mail address. The two had kept in touch ever since. He other pen pal was the granddaughter of Kurt from Azalea Town, who made Pokéballs from apricorns. She had met Maizy the same day when Kurt had come to the lab to talk to Professor Oak, and the two had spent the rest of the time that they were both there playing and talking. In the end, the two had exchanged contact information so that they could stay in contact. Since then Maizy would e-mail her order forms for apricorn pokéballs from time to time so that she could stock up before her journey.

Her green back pack had only two pockets; the larger main pocket and a smaller one right on the front. In the main pocket she had packed several changes of clothes, her notebooks that held all the notes that she had taken so far about Pokémon and how to raise them, several empty notebooks, a sketch book, several different types of empty pokéballs, and a sleeping bag, leaving the rest of the space empty for the food that she was planning to pack in the morning. The smaller pocket held a set of pencils and a small pouch that she was planning to use to store berries and herbs as well as other types of natural plants that could be used on Pokémon or sold for some extra change. Strapped to the bottom of her bag was a dark blue collapsible fishing rod.

As she was clipping on several pokéballs to the belt of her outfit **(the same one that Ash wears in the anime)**, she heard her bedroom door open and she turned to see her aunt standing in the doorway and looking at her with her arms crossed over her chest, eyes narrowed, and tapping her foot.

"What are you still doing up, young lady. You should have been in bed an hour ago."

Ash looked at her clock to see that she had gotten carried away with her packing.

"Sorry mom," she said, looking at Delia sheepishly. " I got carried away while packing."

Delia sighed and let her expression soften. "I'm your aunt Ash. If you hadn't been calling mom since you came here, the entire town would know this as well. Being known as my 'nephew' wouldn't have made any difference in keeping you safe."

Ash got a bitter look on her face. " Your more of a parent than my father ever was. The least I could do is call you mom."

"Ash, your father cares for just as much as I do, if not more."

"Then why hasn't he called or sent letters. If he couldn't visit, he could have at least found a different way to keep in touch, but he didn't bother."

All Delia could do was sigh, knowing that she wouldn't be able to make her niece see sense, since what she was saying was true. The girl's father hadn't bothered to find anyway to communicate with her at all, but it was mostly in order to keep the girl safe. Delia took the remote for the TV from the table and changed the channel to Professor Oak's Pokémon lecture.

"Well since you're still up, you might a well watch this before you go to bed. Once this is over, I want you to turn off the TV and go straight to sleep."

"Yes mom."

Delia smiled as she closed the door to her niece's bedroom after her niece had taken out a pair of pyjamas in order to change. She had grown rather attached to the girl and she would miss her when she left.

– **Timeskip –**

Ash woke up to see that she had broken her alarm clock in her sleep and that she had slept in. She sighed as she realized that she was probably late._ If I'm already late, then it wouldn't matter if I were late by a couple more minutes._ With that thought, she got up and got dressed. Before heading downstairs, she made sure that she had everything except for the food items inside her back pack. Once downstairs she quickly ate her breakfast and packed enough food to last her two weeks on the road, before running out of the house.

When she arrived, she saw Gary Oak bragging to a large group about setting off on his Pokémon journey. She had the oddest impression that he had been bragging for a while just to see her arrive and that was proven to be true when she saw him look over in her direction and smirk. _Damn it. I was hopping to either arrive before him or after him so that I wouldn't have to put up with him. If he lost his arrogance, I wouldn't mind so much, but he has let his grandfather's reputation go to his head._

"Hey Ashy-boy," Gary called as he made his way towards her. " You snooze you loose. I got a Pokémon and you don't."

Ash sighed and rolled her eyes. " Gary, of course you do. You got here before me. It's just like the fact that Leaf and and Fire got their starters before you did because they got hear before you. It's how it works."

Gary looked slightly put out by this, but he quickly started bragging again, seeming to ignore her previous statement. Ash couldn't help but sweat-drop as she watched Gary get into a car and drive off. Sure Gary wasn't driving the car, but she couldn't help but wonder how he was expecting to catch anything if the car would scare them away. There was also the fact that it was easier to find the rarer and less seen Pokémon if one was to go by foot.

"I see you've finally showed up Ash."

Ash turned to see Professor Oak standing by the gate of his lab and home. She was pretty sure that he had come outside for a moment to see his grandson off.

"He does realize that I have been your aide since I was five, right?"

Samuel Oak chuckled. " It seemed to go in one ear and out the other every time I told him, so I just stopped and figured that I would let him realize it on his own."

She looked at him weirdly. " Does he think that I came over just so that I could see him?"

"Yes, that seems to be the case," he replied before he burst out laughing at the look of horror on her face. " Now come on. Let's see what I have that you can use."

"So I was right that Gary was the last one besides me that showed up for his Pokémon."

"Yes Ash. He slept in," the professor said as he led the way towards the lab." He was having a panic attack when he thought that he was the last one to show up. He looked rather relieved when he realized that he wasn't the last one. What about you?"

Ash walked through the door that the Professor held open before she answered. " I slept in as well, but that was because I got carried away last night while I was packing and then mom decided that since I had stayed up as late as I had that I should watch your lecture. If it hadn't been for the fact that we had already discussed that I wasn't going to start with one of the original Kanto starters, I would have probably run out of the house in my pyjamas."

The professor looked over his shoulder curiously as he continued to walk through the building. " Did you pack all your note books? I know that you took all those notes during the past five years for your journey."

" Yup," Ash replied happily. " I have no intention on going anywhere without them. Those notes could prove to be the only thing that will keep one of my Pokémon from dying."

The Professor couldn't help but smile to himself as Ash continued to talk. She was better prepared than his grandson for her journey, and probably better prepared than Fire and Leaf who had also started out this year. It was rare to see a starting trainer that was so prepared for their journey. He knew from experience, through the amount of trainers that he had given starters to over the years, that most just said that they were going to be a good trainer and never actually did research to prepare themselves for their journey. The fact that she was taking it so seriously showed that she was going to be able to get a lot farther than most of the other trainers who started from Pallet. Most of the trainers didn't last long, just long enough to catch a couple of their own Pokémon that they would keep and train before they settled down back in Pallet, occasionally catching a couple more but not participating in the Pokémon League. Those who started in other cities tended to last a lot longer, having access to a lot more resources to help them train and learn about their Pokémon than those who started in Pallet. It also help that those cities were a lot better known than Pallet. Pallet was only known because of him and his research, which was the main cause for most of the trainers not lasting long on their journeys; they wanted to make Pallet as well known as other cities and towns, which caused them to rush through their journeys and eventually they couldn't take the stress that they would put on themselves.

"Okay Ash," he told her as they came into the main room of his lab."Before we start with the Pokémon that I have for situations like these, I want to see how you fare with a certain Pokémon. It has a bit of an attitude problem and it won't listen to a thing I say, no matter what and how much I try."

Ash looked at him curiously. "What Pokémon?"

Professor Oak pressed a button on the table and the middle portion open allowing a pokéball to be elevated up from the storage section. When Ash saw the lightning bolt sticker on the ball, her eyes narrowed suspiciously, hoping that the Pokémon in that pokéball wasn't the one that she thought it was. As soon as the pokéball was out of the storage it opened and after the white light that indicated that the Pokémon that was inside the ball was coming outside disappeared, Ash saw a Pikachu, the one she had seen the Professor catch three months ago and had specifically told him to release back into the wild.

"I thought that I had told you that it would be for the best if we released that Pikachu right after we had caught it," she growled at him with her hands on her hips, causing him to back up slightly at her angry tone and posture." It doesn't matter if Pikachu are rare, even in Kanto. That Pikachu only came into the Coral area in the first place because it wanted something to eat and it was feeding time for the Pokémon. We had agreed that we were going to catch it and then release it in the forest outside of Viridian so that it could live peacefully. When we saw that it didn't like the pokéball, we agreed that it would be best to release it outside of Pallet. So why is it that you still have it?!"

As Professor Oak tried to explain himself to his assistant, Pikachu looked on in curiosity. He remembered having seen the girl, and he knew she was a girl by how she smelled, the day he was caught and he had assumed that she had known about what the Professor was doing, but by the sounds of it, she had not known that the Professor had kept him. The fact that she was telling the Professor off for not having released him when he was suppose to just placed her higher in his books than most other humans. Making a quick decision, Pikachu quickly jumped off the table and onto the floor and proceeded to dash up the girl's leg and onto her shoulder, startling her out of her rant much to the relief of the Professor.'

"Looks like it likes you," the Professor said happily, glad that she had finally stopped ranting at him.

She glared at him. "It's a boy," she told him coldly, Pikachu glaring at him from her shoulder.

The Professor chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head. Deciding to change the subject before she started to chew him out again, he started to walk towards were he kept the empty pokéballs that he gave to the new trainers.

"Well, here are your pokéballs," he said grabbing six of the empty pokéballs as well as the Pokédex that he had set aside for her." I've programed your Pokédex to let you carry nine for now. Call me if you want to carry more. I have put in a chip so that when it is scanned for competitions the people registering you know that you need to be introduced as a boy unless you tell them otherwise. Now all you need is at least one year of field experience to gain your license as a Professor, so it is a good thing that your journey can be counted as field experience."

"Thank you Professor," Ash told him, deciding to let go of her anger towards him for the incident involving Pikachu.

The Professor looked at her for a minute. " Do you think you could do me a favour," he asked her.

"What is this favour," she asked him.

The last time the Professor had asked her to do him a favour and she hadn't questioned him, it had involved a herd of Rhyhorn that a trainer had caught in the Safari Zone. Needless to say, her aunt hadn't been very happy about it.

"Some of the Pokémon at the Coral have been breeding and I found an egg the other day. Normally one of the trainers takes the egg, but neither trainer wanted this one. With the Coral to take care of and my research, I don't actually have the time to take care of it, so I was wondering if you would like to have it. All you have to do is call me every so often to keep me updated.

"So I can keep the Pokémon that hatches from it?"

"Oh yes, of course you can. All I really want to know is how a baby Pokémon behaves. The trainers who take the eggs never actually call to keep me updated, so I have absolutely no idea how baby Pokémon behave at all," he told her holding a brown egg with a white circular spot at the top out to her.

"Sure Professor, I'll do it. I almost thought that the favour was going to be something similar to the Rhyhorn one,"she responded with a smile, taking the egg from him.

Professor Oak had a look of horror cross his face as he shuddered. He would never be able to look at a spatula the same way again and hadn't been able to since the incident. "No, after last time I learned that it would be best not to have you do a job like that until you gain a variety of Pokémon that can help you out with the job."

"Thank you Professor. I'll call you whenever I can," she told him as she walked out of the door.

Since she had said goodbye to her aunt before she had left the house that morning, no one was waiting outside to see her off. Holding the egg in her arms she started jogging towards Route 1, Pikachu holding on to her shoulder. It wasn't until they had gotten outside of Pallet that Ash slowed down to a stop.

"Hey Pikachu," she said looking at the Pokémon on her shoulder. "Do you want to get down so we can eat something."

"Chu, pika chu" _'Sure, I haven't had breakfast yet.' _Pikachu said happily, not expecting his new trainer to understand a word of what he was saying

Ash looked disgruntled at that. "This was the reason why I wanted him to release you. He already has his hands full with the Pokémon that belong to the trainers he sponsors, even with the help of an aide. I knew he would have difficulty trying to take care of you as well.

The Pikachu looked at her in awe and glee. "Pi pi pikachu!"_'You can understand me!'_ he exclaimed gleefully as it jumped from back paw to back paw and rubbing it's front paws together, having jumped to the ground from her shoulder the moment that she had stopped.

"I've been able to understand Pokémon since I moved to Pallet," she looked up from her bag as she finished taking out some sandwiches, her sketchbook, and a pencil before she looked at him. " Why in the name of Lugia are you looking at me like that?"

"Pi chaaa, Pi pikachu, pika chaaa, chu chu pi chu pika,"_'I've heard several Pokémon mention a human who understands us, something about it having been to do with a group of humans finding an old tablet, and a lot of us have been wanting to meet the human and see if it was true'_ Pikachu said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with a paw.

Ash looked at him amused for a moment, before she looked at him thoughtfully. " How would you like to have a name that you can call your own. That way, if I were to ever catch some more Pikachu, I don't get you mixed up with the others."

"Chaaaa,"_'I'd like that.'_ he said happily.

She thought over a couple names before she spoke. " Do you prefer Sparky or Volt."

"Chuchu."_' Sparky'_

She smiled. " Sparky it is then. Do you want a sandwich," she asked him, holding one out.

Sparky nodded before he took the offered sandwich. As he ate it, Ash started to sketch a picture of him. She had several sketchbooks back in Pallet that showed the Pokémon that the Professor kept at the Coral doing their daily activities. Her drawings had been getting very good over the years, since she drew every opportunity that she could get. Depending on the sketch, she occasionally wrote down notes on the sides that explained observations that she had taken about the Pokémon that were in the sketch. When Sparky finished his sandwich, he looked over to notice that the rest of them hadn't been touched, he looked over to his new trainer to see her finishing her sketch. He ran up onto her shoulder and looked at what she was doing.

"Chu?" _'What are you doing?'_

" I sketching a picture of you. It's a good way for someone to understand certain things about Pokémon, but also a good way to relax," she answered him as she put her pencil down and examined her handiwork.

The picture showed Sparky eating his sandwich with a happy expression on his face. The background was similar to the ones you'd see in a photograph when the photographer concentrated on the main subject and the background was fuzzy.

She looked at him. " Are you done with the sandwiches?"

"Pika, pi chu," _'Yes I'm done, but you didn't eat anything.'_ Sparky said curiously.

"I ate before I left the house this morning, so I'm not that hungry. This pit stop was so that you could eat something, since I had figured the Professor hadn't had the time to feed you this morning," she told him as she packed up.

Sparky looked at her with awe and slightly teary eyes. Most humans that he had seen up until this point had seemed to be slightly on the mean side, but this human actually cared about him.

"Shall we continue on towards Viridian City," she asked him, putting her backpack onto her back.

"Pi, pika," _'Sure, let's go.'_ Sparky said, excited, pointing towards Viridian City.

As they made their way towards Viridian City they kept their eyes pealed for Pokémon, but it seemed that the Pokémon had left the area, which indicated that something had scared them off. Ash had the sneaking suspicion that that something was the car the Gary had taken off in earlier. At some point in the future she was going to have a long and thorough discussion with Professor Oak about Gary and the proper ways of becoming a trainer. A car had no place in a trainer's journey. That conversation, though, would probably be delayed until she came back to Pallet. Why should she help her competition? If he didn't realize that he was scaring off the smarter and rarer Pokémon with that car then she would wait until right before the League or after the League to tell the Professor that he needed to have a chat with his grandson.

Deciding to forgo the path so that she would be able to catch some Pokémon before she got to Viridian City, she walked towards the woods. It didn't take long once they had left the path for them to find a Pokémon. It looked similar to a fox, but it had long ears. It was black and it's tail had a white tip. Around it's neck was a collar of white fur that poofed out slightly. Recognizing the Pokémon as an Eevee, Ash still took out her Pokédex and scanned the creature. The image that came up on the screen looked the same except that instead of black, the Eevee in the image was brown.

_"Eevee, the Evolution Pokémon,"_the Pokédex said. _"Thanks to its unstable genetic makeup, this special Pokémon conceals many different possible evolutions. They are rarely ever seen in the wild, since they are a rather shy species. It is easier to see them among breeders and families that have small children, but even then they are a rather rare sight. The average height for this species of Pokémon is 1'00'' and the average weight is 14.3 lbs. This species tends to have evenly distributed states. This Eevee is rather small compared to others of it's species and age range."_

"Pi pi pika, pikachu," _'This one doesn't look like the one in the photo, wonder why.' _ Sparky said curiously as he looked down at the image in the Pokédex.

Ash looked at him curiously. "Have you never heard of a different coloured Pokémon,"she asked him.

"Pi pika pi cha, pika chu. Pi chu," _' Well, most of the time they are seen as bad omens among their species, so they are forced to live on their own and I always thought that it was just a story. It is technically my first time seeing one.' _Sparky told her.

Looking at the Eevee closely, she noticed that not only did it look hurt, but that it was also a lot smaller than the average size that was stated in the Pokédex, just like the Pokédex had stated. " Hey Sparky, should we take her with us? The poor thing doesn't look like she's doing to well."

Sparky looked up from the Pokédex to look at the Eevee. Looking at the small Eevee, he couldn't help but think that Ash was understating it. The small fox looked to be unconscious and was covered in wounds, her breathing heavy.

"Pi ... pika chu," _'You may have understated it slightly ... though I do agree with you that it would be best for us to take the little one with us.'_ Sparky answered her with a sweat-drop.

Ash sweat-dropped as well, agreeing with Sparky that she may have understated the condition of the small Eevee, but quickly went the the Eevee's side. Looking at the little thing, she couldn't help but feel relieved that she had been a Professor's aide for the past five years. Taking out one of the potions that her aunt had bought for her for her journey, she quickly sprayed some of the liquid that was inside the bottle on the Eevee's wounds. She and Sparky, who had jumped off of her shoulder and onto the grass beside the Eevee, both saw the Eevee flinch while still unconscious as the spray hit the wounds but soon the wounds had started to heal. As the wounds healed, her breathing started to even out. Not wanting to catch the little fox unless it wanted to be caught, Ash scooped it up in her arms, making sure that both her and the egg were held securely.

"Come on Sparky, let's see what else we can find. I'm not going to catch the girl unless she wishes for me to catch her and the only way to know if she wants to be caught is to wait for her to wake up," she said before she listening to her surroundings. " I think I hear a stream over there, let's see if we can catch anything with a fishing rod."

Sparky nodded, before jumping onto her shoulder and they set off again in the direction that Ash heard the water. As they got closer, Sparky heard the sound of running water, the sound that Ash had heard before he had. '_Her hearing is better than mine,'_ he thought. _'I wonder why. Maybe the rumours that were going around are true.'_ As they got closer to the sound, they saw a red bike leaning against a tree, before the ground sloped downwards towards a river. Once they got to the bike, they both saw the person who they supposed it belonged to sitting down at the edge of the river, the line of her fishing rod cast out into the water, waiting for something to bit.

"Hey," Ash called down to the girl. " Mind if we join you?"

The girl turned around to look at the source of the voice. She was wearing a pair of jean shorts that were held up by red suspenders and a yellow top that came to right above her bellybutton that had no sleeves past the shoulders. Her orange hair was tied to to the side with a hair elastic. At her side rested a red string bag.

"Sure," she called back at them, smiling. "I could use the company."

Ash made her way down towards the girl. Once she was nearby, she knelt down and gently set down the egg and Eevee after Pikachu had jumped down to the ground. She then set down her back pack and unstrapped her fishing rod. After casting out her rod, she took off her hat. With her hat off, her hair actually lay flatter on her head, showing that it was well kept and making her look more like a girl, even though the hair still had the spikes.

"Hey, why are you dressed up as a boy," the girl asked.

Ash rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, having briefly forgotten that their was someone else there but not seeing the harm in explaining her situation to the girl. " There was an incident when I was little and I got kidnapped. I was rescued soon after, but my mom insisted on me dressing and pretending to be a boy until we could be sure that they are no longer searching for me. My name's Ash by the way."

"I'm Misty. Isn't Ash more of a boy's name?"

Ash's expression turned stony. " Blame my father, he's the one who named me," she replied, her voice cold.

Misty, noticing that she had said something that seemed to bring up bad memories, went to apologize but Ash beat her to it.

"Don't worry about it. You didn't know what the question would lead to," Ash told waving off the apology that she knew was coming.

Ash was about to say something else when she heard some rustling from beside her. Looking down, she saw the Eevee waking up. The little fox opened its eyes slowly, as if not having expected to have come back to consciousness.

"Hey little one, how you feeling," Ash asked it softly, hoping that she wouldn't scare it.

Eevee hadn't expected to wake up again. When she had hatched from her egg, she had been happy to finally see her parents, but that happiness had quickly turned to confusion as she watched her parents' (a female Absol and a male Glaceon) expressions of happiness turn into ones of hatred and fear. Within minutes, both her parents had left her on her own, leaving her to fend for herself. The only reason that she had managed to survive for the past two months was by taking what was left by other Pokémon, which wasn't much. She had never gotten close enough for another Pokémon to see her until today, and the moment they had seen her, they had attacked her. It was through the beating that she was receiving that she had realized that it was because of her colouring that her parents had left her on her own. The Pokémon had left her just as she was loosing consciousness and she wondered what she would do if she managed to survive. What she hadn't expected was to wake up in the presence of two humans. She quickly sat up, wincing at the soreness of her muscles, and blinked up at the closest one, the girl with black hair.

"Ee," _'Who are you?'_ Eevee asked, tilting her head, curious.

"I'm Ash and this is Misty," Ash told the Eevee, pointing to her and Misty as she did the introductions.

"Pi pikachu, chi Chuchu. Chu pi Chuchu,"_'And I'm Pikachu, but I've been named Sparky. I need to start introducing myself as Sparky'_ Sparky said looking around Ash from where he was sitting between her and Misty, mumbling the last bit since he was talking to himself.

The moment she heard Sparky, the Eevee bolted to the closest tree and hid behind it. Sparky, not knowing what he had done wrong, let his ears droop down and let out a depressed sigh. Ash thinking she knew what was wrong, started to get up, motioning to Misty to keep an eye on her rod as well as her own for a bit.

"Sparky watch over the egg okay," Ash told Sparky, who promptly took up a defensive position beside it, before she made her way towards the Eevee.

When she got to the tree, she bent down so that she was closer to Eevee's height. When she made her way around the tree, the Eevee cowered into it, as if trying to make itself as small as possible. Ash smiled down at it.

" I not going to hurt you. Just because your colouring's different doesn't mean anything to me and I'm pretty sure that it won't mean anything to Sparky either. How old are you?"

"Ee ee eve, vee eevee,"_'Um I'm two months, I think.'_ the Eevee answered, too confused to do anything else.

At the answer, Ash realized how bad Pokémon who were born in the wild a different colour had it. The fact that the little Eevee was no more than two months old and had to fend for itself made her angry. The Eevee, seeing the expressionless look on Ash's face, started to whimper as tears formed in her eyes.

Ash, noticing that the young Eevee may have misinterpreted the end point of her fury, sent the anger to the back of her mind and quickly went about soothing the poor infant. " Shhh, little one. I wasn't angry at you. I was angry at the Pokémon who would pick on you just because of your colour. I'm not going to hurt you. Shhh."

After a couple more minutes soft cooing, the Eevee had warmed up to her quite a bit. Soon, the Eevee had jumped into her arms and was rubbing against her chest affectionately. Once the Eevee had calmed down, Ash made her way back towards Misty and Sparky. As she got closer, the Eevee had started to fidget around. Realizing that the fidgeting was due to Sparky, she started to softly reassure the Eevee. Ash knew that it would take a long time for the Eevee to get over its fear and that, if she kept it (the choice was really up to the Eevee, since she would have caught it off the bat if she had known that it wouldn't be scared of her at the start), she would have to go through a similar procedure as she had just now to get the Eevee to get close to the each new Pokémon that she would catch.

"You sure have a way with Pokémon," Misty told her with a smile. " How long have you been a trainer?"

Ash, who had sat down, looked up from the Eevee in her arms. " Well, technically, I just started today," she told Misty which caused the girls mouth to drop slightly," but I have spent the last five years working as Professor Oak's aide, so one could take into account that I have had five years worth of experience, though not with my own Pokémon."

The last statement had Misty close her mouth in relief. It wasn't odd if the girl had had previous experience, even if she hadn't been a trainer at the time.

"Are you going to catch the ..." Misty started to ask, but drifted off since she didn't know what it was. She had a vast knowledge of water types, but outside that, her knowledge was rather poor.

"It's an Eevee," Ash told her, realizing the reason for Misty having drifted off. " And it really is all up to the little critter herself. I'm not going to catch her if she doesn't want to be caught, but with how young she is it would probably be safer for her if I did catch her."

"How young she is," Misty asked Ash, neither of the two noticing the Eevee, who Ash had finally placed on the ground, gaining a determined look in her eyes before she looked at Ash's belt.

"Yeah. You didn't think she was just abnormally small did you, even if she would probably be considered smaller than normal for her age," Ash explained." She seems to have hatched two months ago, which would explain the size."

Misty looked at her startled. "Why isn't the little thing with her parents."

"It's her colouring," Ash told her. " Wild Pokémon see those with a different colour than the original for the species as bad omens and tend to leave them to fend for them selves."

Misty's face gained a look of horror. " You mean to tell me that her parents left her alone when she hatched just because she wasn't the normal colour for her species."

"Pretty much. I think it might be one of the reasons why people think that the different coloured Pokémon are stronger than the regular coloured ones –"

Ash was interrupted by the sound of one of her pokéballs making a capture and a flash of white light. Both she and Misty looked around wildly, only to see that the Eevee had disappeared. Ash looked at Sparky in disbelief.

"Sparky, did Eevee just do what I think she did," she asked the electric mouse.

Sparky nodded, amused at the expression on his trainer's face. Ash quickly looked at her belt and pressed the release button on each of the pokéballs that were attached to her belt by magnets. It was when she reached the Friend Ball, the only pokéball that she had on her belt that wasn't red and white, that Eevee finally came out in a flash of white light. The moment the light had disappeared, she had started to happily prance around, causing both Misty and Ash to look at the little fox amused at her antics.

"You know girl, you could have just told me you wanted to come along," Ash told the Eevee.

"Ee eve ee vee,"_'But it was more fun my way.'_ Eevee responded with a pout.

Ash smiled at her, happy that the life the young Eevee had lead so far hadn't dampened the playful attitude that was normal amongst it's species. "How do you like the name Ebony? If I name you, then I won't get you mixed up with any other Eevee I may catch."

"Vee Vee,"_'I like it.'_ the newly named Ebony yipped happily.

"Do you want to stay outside with Sparky for now?"

"Vee. eevee,"_'Yup. Can I stay outside whenever Sparky is out.'_

Ash couldn't help but giggle. "Sure, but Sparky hates his ball, so that means that he is outside all the time."

"Eevee, vee ee," _I don't care, I want to stay with my big brother.'_ Ebony said stubbornly.

"Pika,"_'Say what!'_ Pikachu couldn't help but exclaim at how Ebony referred to him.

As Sparky and Ebony started to chat together, Ash looked back over at Misty to take back her rod only to see Misty looking at her closely. " You can understand them?"

This question got Sparky's attention. He kept one ear on the conversation that his trainer was having while he continued his conversation with Ebony.

"I've been able to understand them since I was two," Ash replied.

Sparky was hoping that Misty would ask another question, but both of the trainers had returned their attention to their fishing rods. Deciding that he would ask his trainer for the details later, when no other human was around to listen in, he stopped paying attention to Ash and Misty and payed full attention to his conversation with Ebony.

– **Timeskip – **

Two hours later, both Misty and Ash noticed that the sky was getting dark. They looked up to see storm clouds rolling in and decided that it would be for the best if they started towards Viridian City. Misty had only caught Magicarp, and she wasn't very fond of them or their evolution Gyarados, so she hadn't caught anything with her pokéballs. Ash on the other hand had caught one of the Magicarp that she had caught with her rod, as well as a Shellder, and a Staryu. She had named the Magicarp, which was female, Splash, the Shellder, which was male, she had named Kai, and the Staryu, which had no gender, though she had the sneaking suspicion that it was female (she never really understood how it could have no gender if it could still reproduce with other Pokémon species), Gem. Each time that a Pokémon had been fished up, Ebony had dashed behind a tree in fear, proving Ash's earlier concerns about trauma. She knew that it would take time to help Ebony overcome it, but, at the best Ebony would only be comfortable around the Pokémon she caught and maybe those of the people she may travel with. She had fished out Lure balls out of her bag in order to make catching them easier and had replaced the regular pokéballs on her belt with them.

"Hey Misty," Ash called to the girl beside her as they walked through the forest towards Viridian, Sparky and Ebony walking on the ground with them, the egg securely in Ash's arms." Do you think that we'll make it to Viridian before the storm hits?"

"I don't know," Misty replied slightly nervous, "but I hope so. It looks like it may be a thunder storm and I am not in the mood to be outside when it starts. It would be extremely easy for us to be hit by lightning once we are covered in rain water."

It didn't take long after this brief conversation for it to start raining, making the two trainers and the two Pokémon speed up their pace. Ash, noticing that Ebony was struggling to keep up, picked her up and carried her in her arms with the egg. Twenty minutes later, they started to hear thunder. They had just made it back onto the dirt path when the saw a flash of lighting cross the sky not far from them. They all froze. A quick sound of thunder and a bolt of lightning was coming down on them. Feeling some sort of energy surging through her body, Ash's last thought before she lost consciousness was that she didn't want to die this way.

– **Timeskip – **

When Ash came back to consciousness, the first thing she noticed was that the storm had blown over. The next thing she noticed was Misty, Sparky, and Ebony looking at her in relief, a small amount of worry still in their eyes.

"Thank Starmie that you're awake," Misty exclaimed with relief.

"What happened, " Ash asked, confused, sleepy, and tired.

"I'm not quite sure," Misty answered. " All I know is that just as the bolt of lightning was about to hit us, you sent out this blue energy that formed a shield. You fell unconscious at the same time. The shield actually stayed up until the storm had passed. Those two," Misty pointed at Sparky and Ebony, " Were staring at you in awe for the entire time that the shield was up. They didn't realize until the shield came down that you were unconscious."

"Sparky," Ash prompted him.

"Pi cha. Pika cha, chu pika pi chu," _'You used aura. I've heard the tales that explain how several humans of old could use it, but it is considered a myth now-a-days for a human to use it as even most Pokémon have difficulty using it without proper training.'_ Sparky told her excitedly.

"If people have used it before then why did I fall unconscious."

"Ee vee eevee, vee ee,"_'Maybe because it was your first time, that and you used a lot to put the shield up and keep it up.' _Ebony answered for Sparky, Sparky having explained to her what aura was once the shield had come down and she had asked him what the 'blue wall' was.

"Okay, so first thing I do when we get to Viridian is look for a store and see if they have any books about aura," Ash muttered to herself before she started to look around.

It was then that she saw the bike. "What happened to your bike!?"

"When we froze because of how close the lightning had been, I accidentally let go of the handles and it fell to the ground. When you put up the shield thingy, you made sure that it was just close enough so that we wouldn't be hurt, but not far enough out to protect my bike," Misty said and, upon seeing the look of horror on Ash's face, quickly added, " It doesn't matter. A bike is replaceable, a life is not. I can always buy a new one later."

Both trainers got up and stretched before starting their way towards Viridian city again. Before they could make it past a couple steps, they were stopped by the sound of beating wings and a forceful air current. Looking up they saw an a bird that had orange, white, green, and yellow feathers slowing down it's descent as it came down to land. It's feet were a pale blue/grey colour. In it's beak was a basket that, to Ash, looked large enough to hold at least two Pokémon eggs comfortably and securely.

_'So Chosen One, you have finally started your journey.'_

Misty, Ash, Sparky, and Ebony jumped, startled, at hearing a female voice speak to them in their minds. The large bird had landed by this point and was looking at them in amusement.

Ash took the initiative and tentatively asked the question that was on everyone else's mind. "Are you the one talking to us?"

They all heard female laughter. _'Do you see anyone else in the area that could be talking to you? Sorry about the storm, I've been having some of the other legends keep an eye on you to see when you'd unlock your aura and it seems like Zapdos got tired of waiting for your powers to unlock themselves naturally. I will be having a chat with him about what could have happened if your powers hadn't activated in order to protect you and your friends, but it does seem like his method has worked.'_

"Zapdos," both Ash and Misty said faintly, earning another bought of mental giggles from the large bird.

_'Ah yes, Zapdos isn't normally fond of humans, but he seems to have taken a liking to you.'_

Something seemed to finally make sense to Ash. "That's the reason all those random thunder storms seemed to just come to Pallet when the weather was suppose to be sunny!"

_'Yes. He has given you his blessing,which means that shall you ever need his aide he will come. He will let you catch him when you see him, though it might take a while since he tends to prefer the Orange Islands. Now onto the reason that I'm here. I want you to take this basket and take care of the two eggs. One is mine, the other on the other hand, while of my species, is that of a different Ho-oh. Now, I would normally look after them myself, since one is my own, but I am the only one of my species that has to patrol the lands, so I can't. As the only descendent and heir of the line of Cameran, crossed with that of the line of Tamer from Johto,'_ Misty's eyes widened in realization and a small gasp escaped her,_' you are worthy of raising and catching a Legendary. Also, if you could catch me and then let me out to be on my way, it would be most appreciated. You have no idea of the number of trainers that have tried to catch me and it would be nice to continue my job without having to worry about being caught by someone who I do not deem worthy.'_

Ash couldn't turn down a request from a Legendary. It had been one of the first things that both her father and her actual mother had taught her before she had been kidnapped and her mother killed. Both her parents had been raised with the tales of their respective Clans and, as the heir to one and possibly the heir of another, they had made sure that she had started as early as possible in learning about them. When her mother had died, her father had at least sent over all the books that had been compiled of her mother's Clan. Her aunt, knowing the same knowledge about her father's Clan since she was his sister, had continued in teaching her about the other side of her heritage while she read up on that of her mother's.

"Of course I will My Lady, it would be an honour to be of service."

_'It is nice to see that your aunt has continued to teach you in the ways of both Clans, but I am the one who should be referring to you by that title. The Legends are __**your **__vassals m'lady, and though we might request for you to do things for us, you do not have to agree to them unless you wish to. The Legends will come at your call, be they caught or not, to help you if you have the need for the help.'_

After that confusing statement the Ho-oh placed the basket at Ash's feet and waited for Ash to catch her. Ash quickly fished out a Premier ball and caught her. Once she was let back out, Ho-oh started to take off. As she left though, she sent the group one more telepathic message.

_'By the way m'lady, Mew gives you her greetings and gives you her wishes and hopes that you have a safe and fun journey.'_

Before Ho-oh had vanished completely, Ash quickly took out her Pokédex and took a photo of the Fire/Flying type (at least she thought it was a Fire/Flying type from the little information that there was on Ho-oh) to send to the Professor so that she could see if she could get some more information on the species. It was only when Ho-oh had fully flown away that Misty turned to Ash.

"When she said 'the line of Tamer from Johto' she was referring to the Tamer family in Blackthorn City, the ones who train Dragon types, wasn't she"

At Ash's hesitant nod, Misty continued, Sparky and Ebony paying attention to what the two trainers were talking about. "There are only two members of the Clan that are in line to be the heir, Clair and Lance, and even then, it is sure to be Lance unless he dies. There have been no deaths in the Clan in the past ten years, so it is obvious that it isn't your mother who belonged to the Clan," Misty gave Ash a piercing look. "Lance is your father isn't he? He is the only male that is young enough to have a child your age. The others are around the age that they would be having grandkids or in their teens or younger."

Ash's eyes narrowed as she glared at the ground and kicked at it. "He might be father biologically, but I haven't had any contact with him since I was two. I don't consider him my father."

Misty sighed. "I'm not going to ask you to explain this to me now, since we have just met, but hopefully, if I ask in the future, you will trust me enough to explain to me what happened."

Ash smiled at Misty. "In the future," she agreed.

Picking up the egg she had received from Professor Oak, which Pikachu had been guarding from the moment that Ash had fallen unconscious till now, and cradling it in one arm and holding the basket in her other hand, the two set off for Viridian with Sparky and Ebony again, hoping that they wouldn't have to stop again on the way there. Misty carried her charred bike, in the hopes that it was possible to salvage it.

– **Timeskip – **

" Attention citizens of Viridian City! Attention citizens of Viridian City! We have reports of possible Pokémon thieves in our area. Be on the look out for suspicious looking strangers. Repeat, be on the look out for suspicious looking -"

Ash and Misty had just entered the city when they heard the announcement. They stopped walking and looked at each other.

"I have my Pokédex for my ID, but what about you Misty?"

Misty sighed but answered anyway. " Me and my sisters run the Pokémon Gym in Cerulean City, and I have a Cascade Badge on me that is used for identification. Even though me and my sisters don't get along, the top side of the four of us being Gym leaders of the same Gym is that so long as one of us is there, the others can leave and travel if they want to."

By this point the officer that had been announcing the warning for the city had come out of the police station and was waiting for them. They started walking again and it was only when they reached her that she spoke to them.

"Where do you two think that your going?" She asked them with narrowed eyes.

"The Pokémon Center," Ash answered her in a voice that lacked a lot off emotion, the stress of the event that had happened earlier finally catching up to her."We got caught in that freak storm that hit Route 1 and were hoping that we could stay at the and get our Pokémon looked at. I would normally put a lot more feeling into that, but getting almost killed by lightning tends to leave you emotionally drained."

The officer raised an eyebrow. "Lightning?"

"Yep," said Ash, a little bit of exhaustion finally leaking into her voice, causing both Misty and the officer to look at her with concern."I have the feeling that the storm was caused by a Pokémon though."

Misty had to hold back a snicker at that last statement. Technically, it was true, the storm had been caused by a Pokémon.

"Just show me your ID and you can go," the officer told them, the concern that she showed on her face leaking into her voice.

Ash took her Pokédex out of her pocket, making sure to be careful with the basket and the egg in her arms. She opened it and pressed a button. It showed her image as a boy and started spilled out the pre-recorded information with it's electronic voice. The only way it would show her image as a girl was if it was put into a computer slot so that she could register for an event of some sort.

_"I am Dexter, a Pokédex programmed by Professor Oak for Pokémon trainer Ash Ketchem _(Misty raised an eyebrow briefly at the last name but didn't say anything. The officer was paying to much attention to the Pokédex to notice) _from the Town of Pallet. If lost or stolen, I cannot be replaced."_

Once the Pokédex had stopped speaking, the officer turned to Misty who quickly held up the badge that had her ID carved into the back of it. It was after looking over the badge carefully to make sure that it wasn't fake that officer spoke up again.

"Well the two of you are cleared," the officer told them, before rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. " Sorry about that though, but it is better to be safe than sorry when Pokémon thieves have been spotted. How about I give you two a ride to the center to make up for it. It's at the other side of the city and the two –," at the sounds of indignation of the two Pokémon on the ground, she quickly changed the number, "the four of you would probably prefer getting their as fast as you can."

Misty took a quick look at the motor bike and it's side car, which at most had enough room for only one person and two small sized Pokémon before she spoke up. "I'll walk. Ash probably needs the ride more than I do any way since he has been walking since this morning. I had my bike until it was struck by that lightning bolt."

Ash looked at Misty gratefully, before handing over the basket that held the two eggs as well as the egg she had gotten from Professor Oak. "Take these with you. I don't think I'd be able to keep them as safe as I could if I took them with me in the side car, especially since neither Sparky or Ebony want to go inside their pokéballs."

Misty took the basket and eggs and nodded to Ash before she took off at a light jog in the direction of the Pokémon Center, yelling "I'll meet you there" over her shoulder. Picking up Ebony and Sparky, Ash hopped into the side car and placed both of them on her lap. The officer followed her lead and got onto the bike. She turned the bike on.

"Sit back, hold on, and don't yell," was all the officer said before she stepped on the gas peddle.

It took everything Ash had not to yell at how quick the speed increased. She held on tightly to Sparky and Ebony as they continued to pick up speed, both of whom were wide eyed. Within a couple minutes, the Pokémon Center had come into view and the bike was still getting faster.

"Wow. That's the Pokémon Center? It's gigantic!" Ash couldn't help the exclamation as they continued to get closer at speeds that were probably considered illegal even for a police officer.

The officer ignored the comment. "Hold on, this is were it gets real tricky."

Ash could have sworn that the officer had not only talked out loud to herself, but was also smiling at the prospect of something being 'tricky'. She didn't have the chance to think any further on the topic though, cause the officer suddenly caused her motor bike to go approximately fifty feet in the air by lifting the handles up as they got to the top of the gradual rise and they flew down over the driveway of the Pokémon Center, landing right by the entrance, driving through the doors as they slide open electronically. The moment the motor bike had passed the doorway, the officer hit the brakes and turned the bike sideways, causing the bike to skid the entire distance from the door to the front desk.

The nurse at the front desk stood up and glared at the officer."We do have a driveway you know."

The officer rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry, I offered a ride for this trainer here and I guess I got carried away."

The nurse huffed before the anger quickly disappeared. " You should probably head back to the station. I'll take it from here."

The officer nodded and, after Ash had gotten out of the sidecar with Sparky and Ebony, she drove back out the front door and back towards the police station.

"Never again. I will never accept a ride from a police officer again," Ash muttered to her self as she held on to the front counter of the check in, Sparky muttering his name in agreement to her statement.

The Nurse chuckled. "Don't worry, Sara is the only Jenny who drives like a maniac. The rest of her family drive a lot safer than she does. I'm Emmaline by the way, Emalline Joy. What can I do for you?"

Ash straightened up. "I'd like to check out a room for me and a friend who should reach the Pokémon Center soon. I'd also like it if you could look over my Pokémon and see if they're okay."

"No worries,"Nurse Joy answered Ash with a smile. "Chansey!"

At Nurse Joy's call, a pink egg shaped Pokémon with small hands and feat compared to it's body walked into the room. On either side of the Pokémon's head were three protrusions that looked similar to thick feathers and on its belly was a pouch that held a rather large egg. On top of it's head was a nurses hat, one that looked similar to the one Nurse Joy was wearing. Not being able to help herself, Ash took out her Pokédex and scanned the Pokémon just for the sake of it, since she did know what the Pokémon was.

_'Chansey the Egg Pokémon,'_ the Pokédex said. _'Chansey is a kindly Pokémon that lays highly nutritious eggs and shares them with injured Pokémon or people. It is often used by people who want to follow the medical profession, as it knows and can learn moves that can help heal others, though it can also fight. It's best states are it's Endurance and it's Special Defence. Average height for this species is 3'07'' and the average weight is 76.3 lbs'_

The moment the Pokédex had finished speaking, Ash heard giggling and looked up to see Emmaline looking at her with amusement, trying, and failing, not to laugh.

At Ash's questioning look, she answered the unspoken question. "Your the first person that I have encountered who has a Pokédex and has actually scanned my Chansey. All the other trainers who start from Pallet don't bother and I have had several actually ask me what Pokémon she is. I just found the situation funny."

Ash laughed at the answer, since she understood what the nurse meant. Her laughter quickly died though when she saw that Ebony was behind her legs cowering, scared at the appearance of the new Pokémon. Ash crouched down, aware that Emmaline Joy was watching her and Ebony with worry.

"Hey," she told the young Eevee softly, Sparky having come down from her shoulder so that he could help. "Chansey's not going to hurt you. She just wants to make sure you're alright."

It took several minutes of speaking in soft tones to the young normal type, Sparky adding in his own comments, to calm her down. Most of the sentences were similar to what she had said earlier, but it did the job and after ten minutes, Ebony had willingly gone with Chansey, though she was still wary and Sparky was at her side, an added comfort for the Eevee since she knew that if the Pokémon did anything that would harm her the electric type would come to her defence.

Ash sighed, taking of her hat with one hand and running her other trough her slightly spiky hair. "Looks like I'm going to have to buy a book about Pokémon medicine and one on Pokémon healing. It's going to be a very long journey if I have to do this every time I enter a Pokémon Center."

"What happened to her for her to react that way," Emmaline asked her, worried.

"I'm not exactly sure," Ash answered, running a hand through her hair again. "I found her beaten up in the forest on Route 1."

Emmaline looked at Ash in horror.

Ash sighed and put her hat back on. "Do you have a phone I could use. I need to call my mother and the Professor before I bunk down for the night," At Emmaline's suddenly scolding look, Ash elaborated. "My mother will want to know that I have reached Viridian City safely and he Professor needs to hear my theory on Shiny Pokémon."

The last statement seemed to make Emmaline understand the reason for the Eevee's behaviour and caused her to pale significantly.

"Their are several phones over there," she told Ash, pointing to the other end of the lobby. " Oh, and before I forget, here are your room keys, one for you and one for your friend. I'm going to go and help Chansey out."

With that , Emmaline handed two room keys to Ash and left in the same direction that Chansey had gone earlier. Ash stared after her for a couple of minutes before she headed to one of the computer phones and dialled her home number. It rang a couple times before someone picked it up.

"Hello, this is the Ketchum residence,"Ash heard her aunt Delia say, though there still wasn't an image on the screen.

"Hello. Mom?"

Suddenly the image came on, and much to Ash's amusement, she saw her aunt Delia dressed in what looked like a bathrobe.

"Oh Ash! How are you? Where are you calling me from?"

"I'm doing fine and I'm calling you from Viridian City," Ash answered her in an even tone before she lost control of her giggles. "You were wearing a face mask again, weren't you."

Delia actually looked sheepish for a moment before she continued on. "Viridian City? I thought that you had been planning to stay on Route 1 for a couple of days so that you could catch some of the rarer Pokémon in the area, so why are in Viridian so early."

Ash looked to the side, disgruntled. "It wouldn't have mattered. Gary, through all his brain and wisdom, thought that the proper way to travel for his journey is by car. It would take weeks for all the Pokémon that he scared off within a two mile radius of the car to find the area safe enough to start living there again. I don't know about you, but I have no intention of staying on Route 1 for several weeks. I'll look around the area when I come back."

"What do you mean by car?" Delia asked her, not completely sure that she had heard her niece clearly through her mumbling.

"Exactly that," Ash answered her. " Don't tell the Professor though. If Gary thinks that it's the best way to catch the Pokémon that he wants, then I say good luck. He's just going to, hopefully, make my job a lot easier that way, since he will most likely catch the more commonly seen ones." At Delia's scolding look, she hastily added, "I have all intentions of finding a way to let Gary know just as we reach Indigo Plateaux for the League Tournament. If I tell the Professor to tell him now, then Gary will start to catch the rarer Pokémon. And technically it's fair since the moment we left Pallet we are meant to be on our own. I'm just using his own mistake to my advantage."

"What are you planning to do," Delia changed the topic, seeing her niece's point and deciding that she would leave the situation in the girl's hands.

"Well I figured that I would wait a week or two before entering the Viridian Forest, so that that way some of the Pokémon would have returned to the areas that Gary has driven through,"Ash told her before remembering her meeting with Ho-oh. "Hey mom, guess what."

"What," Delia asked back with amusement at the girl's antics.

"I met Lady Ho-oh this afternoon. Oh, and all those random storms that hit Pallet town while it was sunny was seemingly Lord Zapdos' doing."

It took a while for Delia to digest the information that her niece had delivered so casually, but when she did she froze briefly before bombarding the girl that was practically her own daughter with questions. "Ho-oh? What do you mean by 'Lady'? Lord Zapdos? Are you sure? Did you remember your manners?"

Ash hid the smile that was threatening to come to her face as she listened to her aunt ask her questions. This was why she considered her aunt as her mother, even though she knew that Delia could never replace her birth mother whom she had barely known. She was a better parent than her father and that was all that Ash really cared about.

"Yes mom, Ho-oh," Ash answered her, letting her amusement drift into her voice. " And, if the voice that resounded in not only my head but also Ebony, Sparky, and Misty's as well is any thing to go by, then the Ho-oh that I met was female. Ho-oh was the one that explained about Zapdos and the random storms that hit Pallet, so, unless you doubt the word of a Lengendary Pokémon and one of the planet's guardians, I'm sure. And what do take me for? I've had my manners drilled into me by you and, with the fact that I can actually understand what Pokémon are saying, of course I was polite." Ash paused for a moment, deciding against mentioning the fact that Lady Ho-oh had said that the Legendary Pokémon were _**her **_vassels and that she had no need to be as polite to them as she was, before speaking up again. "Mom, what do you know about Aura?"

Delia paused, not entirely sure where Ash was going with this, before she answered anyway. "Aura is the life force that exists within all living beings, from plants to animals to Pokémon to even people. All Pokémon use their aura instinctively when they use any one of their attacks, though Riolu are one of the only known species that has an attack that uses aura in it's natural state when it is extracted from a living being. Their is more to it, but it isn't something that Tamers know a lot about. This is more under the hands of you – um – under the hands of the Line of Cameran. Why dear?"

"Sparky and Ebony said that I used my aura to put up a shield when we were almost hit by a bolt of lightning."

"Bolt of lightning," Delia almost shrieked in panic.

"I'm fine mom, I'm fine," Ash quickly reassured her.

It took a few minutes Delia to calm down from almost having a heart attack. Once she did though, she asked another question, a question about something that Ash had mentioned twice already.

"Ebony and Sparky?

"Oh yeah," Ash said putting her right hand, which she hand clenched into a tight fist, into her open-palmed left hand. "Sparky is the Pikachu I got as my starter due to the fact that I showed up late at Professor Oak's place, though I wasn't going to start with one of the normal starters anyway. Ebony is a black and white furred Eevee that I found in the woods off of the road. She has a black coat instead of brown and I figured that the name would suit her. When I asked her if she liked it she said yes."

"You caught a shiny on your first day?" Delia asked surprised.

It wasn't everyday that a trainer that hadn't been on their journey for longer than a couple hours found a shiny, let alone one of a rare species.

"Yeah, though I need to talk to the Professor about the theory that's out there about how a 'shiny' is strong than others of it's species. From the information that Sparky told me, it's because they have no choice in the matter; they either have to learn to fend and defend themselves or risk loosing their lives. I found Ebony beaten up in the forest and the wounds didn't look like they had been caused by people."

Delia looked at her niece in horror at how she had found her first catch. Researchers had had theories about shiny Pokémon for years and the theory that they were strong seemed to be the only one that was correct. It had been assumed that whatever it was in their genetic make-up that made them shiny also made them stronger, but with the new information, it would mean that the shiny Pokémon had no choice but to be stronger than other Pokémon if they wanted to survive.

"Okay dear. I'll call the professor as soon as we're done and tell him to call you so that you don't have to dial another number. What are you going to do for the week or two that you're going to stay in Viridian? I know that you still have some money left from your allowance, but that isn't much, especially if you're going to buy a book on Aura."

Ash thought it over for a few moments before answering. "I think I'll spend my time on Route one looking for berries and herbs that I can sell. I want to save as much money as I can, so I think that I'll probably end up making my own Pokémon food rather than buying it from the stores. According to the Pokémon at the Professor's ranch the food is rather bland anyway, so it will probably end up being for the better, and that stuff is a lot more expensive than it's ingredients. I also want to buy some stickers so that I can tell my pokéballs apart from those of other people if something ever happens. I'd also have to buy enough food to last for a week right before I enter Viridian forest so that I'll be ready just in case I get lost."

She sighed before shrugging. "Meh, I'll figure something out tomorrow. I'm to exhausted to think properly at the moment."

Delia smiled slightly. Ash hadn't changed much over the years. The girl was always over prepared for everything and that was a good thing, though in some cases it made life a lot harder because she'd over think things.

"Call me before you leave for Viridian Forest, okay dear," Delia told her. "Bye."

"Bye mom," Ash replied with a smile, before turning off the phone.

Once the phone was off, Ash took the time to look around the center, knowing that it would take her aunt some time to call the Professor and tell him to call the Viridian City Pokémon center. The main floor was rather bare, consisting of the front desk with several tables and chairs scattered around on one side and computer phones lined up in cubicles on the other. What caught her attention was the mural behind the front desk. She had seen pictures of the mural before, and it was supposed that the four Pokémon on it were Legendary Pokémon. Though Ash knew that the one in the bottom right corner was an Arcanine, the evolution of Growlith, and wasn't a Legendary at all. It was just known for its abilities with fire that border-lined the power of a Legendary. The one above it though, Ash recognized as Ho-oh, whom she had seen earlier. The one beside it was what researchers had assumed that Moltres looked like, since barely anyone had seen them in order to prove it valid. Underneath Moltres, was the picture of Zapdos whom, now that Ash knew the cause of the Thunderstorms in Pallet for the past few years, she recognized seeing a few times amongst the clouds when it had been stormy out, though she had thought that she was just seeing things at the time.

Ash's sudden thought-line was disturbed by the ringing of the computer phone that was located behind the front desk. She looked around to see if Emmaline was there and, upon not seeing the Joy who worked at the Center, figured that it would be okay for her to answer the phone. She walked around to the other side of the desk and pressed the answer button, only to see no image on the screen.

"Hello? This is Ash, who's calling?"

"Here! I'm over here," she heard Professor Oak's voice before she heard sliding from behind her.

Ash turned around to see the mural tile that showed Arcanine slide back behind that of Zapdos to reveal a large screen. _'That's one way of talking to someone,'_ Ash thought to herself as she took in the screen that she personally found was too large for just talking over the phone. She watched as the screen turned itself on to show the back of the Professor's head along with some of his lab equipment.

_'He forgot which camera he's suppose to use again,'_ she thought to herself in amusement.

"Ash it's Professor Oak, don't you recognize me?" the Professor asked, and Ash could make out the screen he was looking into while the wrong camera continued to show his image.

"Professor," she told him in amusement. "You do realize that you're using the wrong camera again."

The Professor looked behind him in horror. "Oops, wrong camera," he said out loud before he hurried and switched the camera.

The image on the screen switched to show the front view of the Professor as he coughed into his hand to hide his embarrassment at being caught using the wrong camera by his aide again. "There. I just spoke to your mother and she said that you've arrived in Viridian City. Considering the fact that you picked up, she was correct. I won't question you on why your there so soon since I had assumed that you would stay on Route 1 for several more days at least to catch some of the rarer Pokémon that can be found in the area."

The Professor paused for a moment and looked to remember something before he spoke up again. "The other trainers made it there with no problem and Gary called boasting about how you wouldn't catch a single Pokémon before you got there. I made a bet out of it. So did you catch anything?"

The question was said with hope, and it amused Ash that the Professor had a lot more hope in her than he had in his own grandson. "Yes Professor. I caught a Magicarp, a Shellder, a Staryu, and an Eevee."

She watched him do a little cheer as she listed off the Pokémon that she had caught before he froze as the information sank in. "An Eevee!? Where did you come across one of those?"

"In the woods off the path," she informed him. "I think it was just by chance though. From what I got from her, she had been abandoned just after she was born and has spent the last two months taking what was left from other Pokémon."

"Abandoned?"

"Yeah. That brings me to what I wanted to tell you. Shiny Pokémon aren't born stronger, they become stronger in order to survive. The Eevee was black instead of brown, and from what Sparky, the Pikachu I took with me, told me, they are seen as bad omens amongst Pokémon."

"Oh dear," Professor Oak muttered, before he looked at her. " I'm guessing that the poor thing is suffering from trauma. Eevee are playful and usually kind Pokémon. That kind of treatment to one so young probably wasn't the best thing for it."

Ash grimaced. "She's terrified of all Pokémon. It took me a half hour to get her to trust Sparky and after that, every time I caught a new Pokémon with my rod she dashed behind a tree and hid there. Once we got to the Center it took me a third of that time and a promise from Sparky that he wouldn't leave her side for her to go with Ms. Joy's Chansey."

The Professor sighed. "Normally I'd ask for you to send such a rare find back to the lab so I could take some notes, but I think it would be best for you to keep her on you. On another note, if you've named the Pikachu Sparky, then that means that you have named the rest of your Pokémon as well. Your mother said that your staying in Viridian for the next week or two, so call me in a couple days with the names so that I can refer to them by their names rather than their species,"he paused briefly in thought. "Was there anything else that you needed me for?"

Ash thought that it would be best to be abrupt. "I saw Ho-oh."

Professor Oak looked at her with wide eyes. "Are you sure. People spend most of their lives looking for Ho-oh and never see it."

"I took a photo using my Pokédex," she reassured him. "I'll send the photo over later this week with the list of names. Bye Professor."

"Good-bye Ash," the Professor replied before he hung up.

Ash turned off the phone application on the computer and went and sat down at one of the tables. The Center was deserted, though from what Ash knew, Viridian City tended to have the most business during the month leading up to the League and the month after the League had finished. The Pokémon Center was so big to accommodate all the people who went through Viridian City during those months, but other than that there wasn't many trainers whom travelled through Viridian because it wasn't on the way to other cities.

"So you made it here okay?"

At Misty's voice, Ash turned to see her standing by the table with the basket of Pokémon eggs in her arms. "When did you get here?"

"Just now," Misty answered as she set the basket down on the table. "I guess you were so lost in thought that you didn't hear me come in or approach the table. What were you thinking about?"

"I was just thinking that this Center is only this big so it can support the trainers that come through during the three and a half months that the League takes place. Other than that, this place is probably almost always empty."

"That's why it's so empty," Misty thought out loud. " The Center in Cerulean is just as big and you can always see trainers up and about in the lobby."

Ash nodded in agreement. She remembered little from before she had turned three, but one of the things she did remember was the size of the Pokémon Center in Blackthorn City and that there was always several trainers in the lobby. The fact that their were no trainers in the Viridian City Center lobby was kind of sad.

"Do you mind staying in Viridian City for a week or two," Ash asked Msity as she propped her elbows on the table and let her head rest in her hands.

Misty shrugged. "Not really, why?"

"The Professor's grandson started his journey today as well and he took off in a car. I want to catch some Pokémon in the forest on the way to Pewter and that won't be possible unless we wait for the Pokémon that were scared off by the car to return. I also need to buy a couple of things too."

"He's going on his journey in a car?!" Misty exclaimed.

"I know," Ash agreed. "And the fact that he hasn't stopped boasting since we were little that he will be the better trainer just makes him look stupid."

Misty looked at the clock on the wall. " Do you know what time the nurse is going to return with your Pokémon?"

Ash looked at the clock and then noticed something behind Misty. "She's here now."

Emmaline Joy came out holding a tray of three pokéballs with Ebony and Sparky walking by her feet. "Here are your Pokémon. Just let them rest in their pokéballs for the night and they'll be right as rain tomorrow morning."

"Thank you Nurse Joy," Ash thanked the Nurse as she took the pokéballs off of the tray and clipped them back onto her belt. "Ebony didn't put up much of a fuss did she?"

Emmaline shook her head. "No, though I think that might have been because your Pikachu never left her side. How long are you two staying for?"

"At least a week," Ash informed her.

Emmaline nodded. "Okay, just let me know if you need my help with anything. You already have the keys to your room and I've checked you into room number two. It's the first door to the right once you go up the stairs."

With that she waved at them before heading back to the front desk. Sparky quickly jumped up onto the table and sat down beside the basket while Ash bent down to pick up Ebony.

Placing Ebony on the table beside Sparky, Ash spoke up. "I have some food left that I packed this morning, if you want some," she offered.

Misty smiled slightly. "Thanks. When I left the Gym yesterday, I only packed enough food to last me a day. It wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I was angry at my sisters and I packed in a rush."

Ash just smiled back as she pulled out the container of sandwiches. Opening the container, she handed one to Misty first before giving one to Sparky and Ebony. Once the others had their sandwiches, she grabbed on herself and started to eat. The tub of sandwiches had served as enough food for both her lunch and dinner, along with the same two meals for both Sparky and Ebony, though Sparky had also had one for breakfast.

"I have enough perishable food to serve as meals for two more days," she told them as she thought back to what she had packed that morning. "I figure we should finish that before we eat the food that is provided at the center, so that I won't have to throw it out."

Misty nodded back to her. "That's smart. I'm guessing that, by the amount of food that you packed, you were planning to spend several days on Route 1."

"Yup," Ash replied as she closed the container that had held the sandwiches before putting it back into her bag. "If Gary hadn't gone by car, I would have too."

Ash sighed briefly and closed her eyes before she opened them again. "Do you want to help me look for some herbs and berries tomorrow? There are several different things that I plan to buy, but I don't actually have enough change to buy most of it. I figured that I can find a store that will buy them for a decent price so that I could afford them that way."

Misty thought it over before she shrugged. "I don't mind. I actually like the idea. It's an easier way to make a living than constantly battling trainers for change and for all we know, we might even find items that we would like to keep." She looked at the clock and Ash followed her gaze to see that it was past eight. "We should probably head to bed, especially if we intend to forage for things on Route 1 and the first half of Route 2 that we can sell or hang on to.'

Ash nodded in agreement and got up, swinging her bag back over her shoulder and ushering to Ebony and Sparky for them to follow her. They didn't make it that far through the lobby when the sound of breaking glass brought their attention to roof just in time to see two pokéballs fall through the small portion of the roof that was windowed. The pokéballs both opened at the same time in a bright flash of light that caused both of them as well as Ebony and Sparky to avert their gaze so that they wouldn't be blinded. When the light died down, all four of them looked back to see two Pokémon; a purple snake and, what looked to be at first glance, a floating purple ball that was surrounded by gas.

"This better not be who I think it is," Ash muttered to herself as she withdrew her Pokédex, though she already knew that the Pokémon were an Ekans and a Koffing.

_"Koffing, the Poison Gas Pokémon,"_ the Pokédex spoke up when she pointed it at the Koffing. _"Toxic gas is held within its thin balloon-shaped body, so it can cause massive explosions. A caution towards trainers is to not use any electric or fire type moves when this Pokémon is nearby as it is a sure fire way to blow something up. This species tends to have higher Attack and Defence states while it's Speed, Endurance, and Special Defensive states are on the low side. The average height for this species is 2'00'' while the average weight is 2.2 lbs._

She pointed it at Ekans next.

_"Ekans, the Snake Pokémon,"_ the Pokédex stated. _"It sneaks through grass without making a sound and strikes unsuspecting prey from behind. This species can have a similar ability as bug types in which the shedding of it's skin may heal it of it's status problems. Like Koffing, it's Attack state tends to be the higher state though unlike Koffing the Speed is also normally higher. This species has an average height of 6'07'' and an average weight of 15.2 lbs._

"Prepare for trouble," a female voice spoke out through the gas that had started to leak out of Koffing, making everything look a little murky.

"And make it double," a male voice continued.

Ash twitched at this.

"To protect the world from devastation!" the female voice spoke up again.

Ash had enough.

"Alright you two," she spoke up, cutting them off, as she clapped her hands together. "What would uncle Giovanni say if he figured out that the two of you were vandalizing League property. That is completely opposite of the way your suppose to be operating"

There was a pause before the female voice spoke up in surprised happiness. "Ash?!"

"Yeah, it's me. Now would you guys mind telling Koffing to stop it with the Smokescreen! It's getting really difficult to see things here."

"Koffing, stop the smokescreen," a male voice called out, and once Koffing stopped letting out smoke, the smoke that had been let out cleared out thanks to the hole in the glass portion of the Center's ceiling.

Before Ash could say anything else, she was glomped by a white cat with a s coin shaped jewel on it's head and quickly pulled into a crushing hug by a female with long red hair and a male with shoulder length blue hair. Both of them were wearing white uniforms with a red letter 'R' on the front.

"Long time no see kiddo," the female spoke up as she let Ash go, Misty watching from the sidelines in slight confusion.

"How's the bosses favourite niece," the male added on.

Ash sighed. "I fine. I just started my journey today. What are you two doing here? I thought that Uncle was planning on assigning you two to handle new recruits."

"He was, but then he heard a rumour that the Rebels were planning on attacking the Viridian City Pokémon Center and since we were the closest operatives in the area, he sent us to check it out. He knew you were starting your journey today and thought that it would be best to check it out and see if it was true. From what we could tell, they had already left, but we checked the Center out this way just to be sure. The Rebels have been fleeing every time they hear the motto. We didn't think that you'd be at the Center though. Your last letter stated that you were planning to spend at least a week on Route 1," it was the cat that answered her and Misty had to stop her mouth from dropping at hearing the Pokémon talk.

"Their was a little issue with the Professor's grandson and a car and I didn't see the point of staying on Route 1 when it would just be a waste of time," she answered back before turning back and motioning for Misty and Sparky to come closer. Ebony, though terrified of the Pokémon, had stayed close to her, though she was hiding behind her legs.

"This is Sparky, my starter, Misty, a girl I met by the river on Route 1, and this little girl behind my legs is Ebony," she introduced, pointing to each in turn. "Misty, Ebony, Sparky, these are Jessie, James, and Meowth along with their two Pokémon Ekans and Koffing."

Jessie and James waved when they were introduced and Meowth climbed onto Ash's shoulder.

"Nice to meet you," Jessie said before looking between Misty and Ash. "Does she know that your a ..."

"Yes she knows that I'm a girl," Ash stated when Jessie trailed off. " I accidentally took off my hat. It makes things easier though. If the two of us are going to travel together, then it's best that she knows. And she has a general idea of my past."

James slapped his forehead. "You can't lie to save your life, can you?"

"Nope," Ash said cheerfully, as though it wasn't a problem. "I can keep secrets though."

"And everyone always wonders how you manage to do that since you can't actually lie," Meowth stated as he looked at her fondly in amusement.

Ash just shrugged. "Don't ask me, I don't know how I do it."

"How do you guys know each other," Misty asked.

Ash turned to look at her. "My uncle runs Team Rocket and I'd stay over at his place from time to time every year. These three were always there when I'd visit."

"Isn't Team Rocket an evil organization," Misty asked, wondering how many more surprises she was in for in the future while she travelled with Ash.

Ash shook her head. "No. There is a group that Team Rocket calls the 'Team Rocket Rebels' though. Those guys are an evil organization. They refer to themselves as Team Rocket but they wear black uniforms instead of white. The Rebels broke off from Team Rocket eight years ago."

A sudden sound of ringing stopped Ash from continuing her explanation and both she and Misty looked at the two Rocket members to see James pull a Pokégear out of his pocket and answer the phone.

"Hello, this is James."

Their was a pause where a man with a deep voice could be heard talking before James answered. "Yes the city is clear. Not a Rebel in sight. From what we discovered, they didn't stay here for long. They didn't even take anything. We met Ash in the Pokémon center when we went to make sure that it was clear as well."

Another pause where the man at the other end spoke again and then James answered. "Yeah she's still here. You want us to give it to her now?"

A brief statement from the other side of the line was heard, though it wasn't clear to the others. "Alright, I got it boss. I'll call you back tomorrow. Bye."

James ended the call and put the Pokégear away before turning to face Ash. "Your uncle wants us to shadow you and make sure that the Rebels don't try anything. We'll probably attack you every nnow and then just to let them know that we are keeping an eye on you."

Misty looked slightly confused though she didn't ask anything. She figured that if they wanted to let her know that they would tell her.

James took out a Luxury ball from his pocket. "The boss gave us this to give to you. It's his gift for starting your journey,"he told her as he held it out and Ash took it and clipped it onto her her belt.

"You guys should go to bed. We need to check in with the boss," Jessie said. As they left, James turned back and added, "We'll see you guys soon."

_Pikachu – Sparky – normal coloured Pikachu: yellow with black ear tips, red cheeks, and two brown strips – male – rash – watches before it acts – Thundershock, Thunderbolt, Quick Attack, Tail Whip, Volt Tackle – Lightning Rod: draws in electricity to bring up it's Special Attack – Sweet/Bitter – Pecha _

_Eevee – Ebony – Black Eevee instead of brown with white neck fur and white tipped ears and tail – Female – Timid – scared of others thus quick to flee – Tackle, Quick Attack, Sand Attack,Fake Tears,Stored Power, Synchronoise, Wish, Curse, Endure, Flail – Anticipation: Senses a foe's dangerous moves – Spicy – Tamato_

_Magicarp – Splash – regular coloured Magicarp:red with white fins and tail along with yellow crown, whiskers, and under fin – quick to defend it's friends – Splash, Tackle – Rattled: Some moves scare it and boost it's Speed – Dry – Pamter_

_Shellder – Kai – regular coloured Shellder: purple shell with black inside and pink tongue – Male – Impish – likes to play – Aqua Ring, Mud Shot, Barrier, Icicle Spear, Bubble Beam, Tackle, Withdraw – Skill Link: Increases the frequency of multi-strike hits – Dry – Wiki – _

_Staryu – Gem – regular coloured Staryu: brown five point star with gold colour circular attachment that has a small reddish pink gem in the center – Female – Quirky – likes to battle – Tackle, Harden, Water Gun, Hidden Power, Light Screen – Illuminate: makes finding wild Pokémon easier – Dry – Chilan_

_** Okay everyone, that's it for this chapter. I'm so glad that I finally managed to finish it. It took three rough drafts and I'm pretty sure two years to get it to were it is now. The chapter is a total of 16'918 words, which is above 2x my quota on words and makes it just 30 pages long on Microsoft Word or Open Office.**_

_** Feel free to ask me questions in reviews and I shall answer them at the start of the next chapter. At the end of each chapter I shall put up a Pokémon info section so that you all know what Pokémon Ash has and other info that I deem important. Please do not just ask for me to update as that doesn't help in the least. I like Reviews that give ideas or provide helpful criticism and I will give mention to who gave what at the start of each chapter. Guest reviewers will not get a response or mention as I find that if they are bothering to read the stories, they should at least make an account of their own.**_

_** Till next time**_

_** Forestfirekid**_


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